BISHKEK -- Belarusian Ambassador Viktar Dyanisenka told protesters in front of the Belarusian Embassy in Bishkek today that former Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiev is not in Belarus, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reports.
Dozens of protesters gathered in front the embassy protesting a statement by Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka on April 18 indicating his readiness to provide Bakiev and his family with political asylum. The protest was organized by the "April 7" movement.
The movement's leader, Ondurush Toktonasyrov, told RFE/RL that the demonstrators demand that Kyrgyzstan's interim government lodge an official protest against Lukashenka's statement.
Bakiev left Kyrgyzstan for neighboring Kazakhstan and officially resigned as president on April 15.
The Kazakh Foreign Ministry announced today that Bakiev had left Kazakhstan, but did not say where he was flying to.
Groups of people loyal to Bakiev in the southern city of Jalal-Abad continue to protest his resignation.